Super Stock NHRA racing is likely one of the most badass motorsports on the planet, or at least it was back in the 1960s. It was once about as close to stock vehicles as you could possibly get, yet they still screamed down the track.
One of the dominant and most memorable cars of the 1960s was Dave Stickler’s Camaro Z/28 dubbed “Old Reliable.” After it claimed the Stock Car World Championship in the 1968 season, “Old Reliable” was retired and sold.
In 1993, a buyer used VIN data saved by the Sticklers to track down this beast, after it had been repainted and raced in various events across the nation. Few actually knew what the Camaro once was, but this buyer knew what it was and wanted it, badly. According to some sources, when this buyer went to buy “Old Reliable,” it was actually scheduled to be chopped up for scrap metal.
One question that comes to mind is how good of condition can a car that was about to be scraped be in? From what we can see, this thing is in excellent shape and is certainly set to pick up a premium price, now that it has been listed for sale on Ebay by RK Motors Charlotte.
The original AC Shelby Cobra debuted back in 1961 in a joint venture between AC, a company owned by famed racecar driver Carroll Shelby, and Ford. An interesting fact is that had it not been for Chevy trying to protect its sacred Corvette model, the AC Shelby Cobra would have ended up being a Chevy-powered machine. As it ended up, Chevy turned down AC, and Ford stepped in to help power the Cobra.
The AC Shelby Cobra was a short-lived project that lasted only three generations between 1961 and 1967. AC managed to hang on for another 17 years before closing up shop in 1984. During the fire sale that took place following AC’s closing, Autokraft snatched up all of the toolings and spare parts of the failed company, which allowed it to become a parts reseller and replica car builder.
Autokraft’s replicas were so awesome and respectful to the history of the AC Cobra that the Hurlock family, the family that purchased the AC name, sold off its closely guarded rights to the name to Autokraft in 1986. This sale officially made all Autokraft Cobras the real deal, and not just the replicas of the past.
Staying true to the sequence of the original AC Shelby Cobras, Autokraft dubbed this model the AC Cobra MkIV – the prior three Cobras were dubbed MkI, MkII, and MkIII. Despite the fact that the MkIV Cobra was produced for a decade, only 480 models ever made it to the street, making this sometimes called “kit car” just about as rare as the original Shelby version.
With how rare these cars are, it is typically a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to snag one up. Well, RM Auctions is making this a possibility at its Dingman Collection auction on June 9th through June 10th, 2012 in Hampton, New Hampshire.
So how does this replica car company turned legit Cobra builder stack up today?
Believe it or not, Bugatti actually had a rather long and roller-coaster-like lifespan before the Veyron was ever a glimmer in Volkswagen AG’s eyes. In fact, Bugatti outdates its ownership group by roughly 28 years, as VW was founded in 1937 and Bugatti in 1909. Unlike VW, though, Bugatti never fully recovered from WWII, and fizzled away into automotive has-been in the 1950s, despite a few ailed comebacks in the late-`50s and early `60s.
When Romano Artioli bought the rights to the Bugatti name, his first release under the newly acquired name was the extremely advanced 1991 Bugatti EB110 GT. Unfortunately, the EB110 GT, despite its advancements, never really took off, which was mostly attributed to the global recession at the time taking its toll on the automotive industry.
The EB110 GT lasted through the 1995 model year, but only a total of 84 of them were ever built within those five model years. In addition to the 84 completed models, there were 11 incomplete models that were purchased by B Engineering during Bugatti’s bankruptcy proceedings, which later became the basis for the Edonis sports car.
As you can see, the EB110 GT had a storied and tragically short life that was chock-full of unrealized potential, due to economic woes. Well, RM Auctions is giving you a chance to own a piece of Bugatti history by offering up a 1994 Bugatti EB110 GT in Monaco from May 11th to 12th, 2012.
How does this one technical marvel stand up to today’s supercars and is it really worth picking up with all of the supercars available?
Click past the jump for the answers in our complete review.
In 1968, Ferrari saw it fit to replace the four-year-old 275 GTB/4. Its replacement was codenamed the “Daytona” in honor of Ferrari’s 24 Hours of Daytona win, but Ferrari had no plans to use this name for the production model, despite the outcry from enthusiasts.
In 1968, the GTB/4 was introduced and Ferrari enthusiasts took it upon themselves to dub it the Daytona. The nickname was so popular that the GTB/4 became almost more noticeable under its nickname than its given name. In the same model year, a rare convertible model was released based on the same GTB/4 chassis.
Ferrari did not stray too awfully far for the name of this convertible model, as they simply dropped the “B” in “GTB” and replaced it with an “S,” which stands for Spyder, creating the GTS/4. There were several models of the GTS/4, including: European-spec RHD, US-spec LHD and European-spec LHD. The latter of the group is the rarest, as only 18 of the 122 Daytona Spyders built were Euro-spec LHD.
If owning one of these masterpieces is something you would like to do, but never thought you could get your hands on one, RM Auctions has solved that part of the equation. On May 12, 2012 in Monaco, RM Auctions will be auctioning off a 1971 version of the Ferrari 365 GTS/4 Daytona Spyder. This means you can not only own one of the rarest Ferraris, but also the especially rare LHD Euro-spec model!
Click past the jump to read our full review on this legendary machine.
The Rondeau-built M378 Le Mans GTP Racing Car is a true piece of Le Mans history, as it currently holds the title for most starts at Le Mans (10). With the amount of stress put on Le Mans cars today, this record is likely to stand for quite some time.
The M378 Le Mans GTP Racing Car made its debut in 1978 in the GTP class of the Le Mans 24 Hours race with two drivers, Bernard Darniche and Jack Haran. In its debut race, the Rondeau M378, or “Old Number 1” as it was nicknamed, took a somewhat disappointing 9th place. The following year, Old Number 1 was tweaked to M379 specifications and wound up pulling in 3rd overall and 1st in the GTP class.
The Rondeau M378 Le Mans GTP Racing Car saw plenty of success through the 1970s, but the 1980s were far less kind to it. As technology continued advancing, the Rondeau M378 Le Mans GTP Racing Car just couldn’t keep up. It all bottomed out in this record holder’s final race, as it ran in and finished the 1988 Le Mans 24 Hours race, but was not classified.
Shortly after its last race, the Rondeau M378 Le Mans GTP Racing Car went on to be sold off to an American collector, who raced it in the 1998 Monterey Historics race.
If you are looking to own a piece of Le Mans history, few stack up to this car’s legacy, but is this a good item to look into purchasing when it goes to auction on May 11th through 12th?
When it comes to 1970s road racing events, there was Ferrari, Lamborghini, Porsche, then everybody else. One of these fine examples is heading off to auction on Saturday May 12th in Monaco, via RM Auctions. This example up for sale is the 1976 Porsche 934 Turbo RSR FIA GR/4 chassis No. 930.670.0540.
The 1976 Porsche 934 Turbo RSR FIA GR/4 was one of the most important years in road racing series, as in the years following, each of the large road-racing series implemented rule changes that would eliminate these cars being road legal. This 1976 Porsche is one of the last examples of a road-legal racecar, which means you can title it and drive it on any city street.
This model is also important, as its chassis number shows that this was the final model of 31 built of this type. This not only makes it a rare beast, but also a collectable one, being the final production model. The
only more desirable chassis would be the first one built.
Despite the fact that this model Porsche was racing against non-road-legal models, it still pulled off some impressive races. By far its biggest success was its 4th overall finish in the 1979 24 Hours of Le Mans. This makes it no surprise that this car also won many overall class championships between 1976 and 1977.
Want to own a true racing legend that was the last road-legal and top-level race-ready Porsche ever built? This is your model.
Throughout the 1960s and 70s, Motion Performance was the largest company that performed aftermarket tuning on GM vehicles. While designing the Corvette Manta Ray GT, one of many Motion Performance-tuned vehicles, builders used a 1972 `Vette as a model to explore different design schemes and see what worked.
This concept car made its auto show rounds, changing owners many times in the process, but most enthusiasts simply saw it as a deformed version of the Manta Ray GT. Several years ago this custom Corvette made its way back onto the selling block and when its original builder, Joel Rosen, was question about it from a potential buyer, he wrote it off as a poorly duplicated version of one of Motion’s Corvette kits.
As time went by and Rosen learned a little more about the car, he came to find out that this was the long-lost and long-forgotten concept car he worked on in 1972. Talk about a strange set of events to lead up to finding one of the rarest Corvettes on the planet.
Ultimately, the detail that gave the Corvette away was a flawed paint job that remained underneath certain panels on the vehicle. This type of painting flaw – using a primer that it too dark for its yellow top coat – created a nasty green-like color that was later painted over with pearl yellow paint.
This awesome Motion Maco Shark/Motion Manta Ray GT hybrid is truly a one-of-a-kind vehicle that is lucky to be around, and collectors around the world can now find it for sale again on Ebay. Is this Custom Corvette Mutt up to snuff for a collector to sink some serious cash into?
Click past the jump to read our full review and find out.
The Lancia Stratos was once one of the most dominant forces in the World Rally Championship, as it took home the championship in three consecutive seasons – 1974, 1975 and 1976. After the 1976 campaign, however, the Stratos was pulled out of the WRC.
In 1979, the Stratos wound up with a private racing firm and dominated the 1979 Monte Carlo Rally. The legend of the Lancia Stratos continues amongst rally enthusiasts. The Stratos was not only a rally machine, as Lancia did manufacture a small number of street versions of its rally champ. Unfortunately, with its popularity in the Rally realm, many of the street-version, known as the “Straddles,” Stratos have been converted into rally cars or modified into replicas of the WRC Champion car.
Thanks to the folks at RM Auctions you may be able to own one of the few near-mint condition 1976 Lancia Stratos ’Straddles’ left in the world. This beautifully restored classic is set to go to auction on May 11th or 12th in Monaco.
You may be wondering how well restored is this classic car or maybe if it is worth its asking price? Maybe you haven’t even heard of this car and would like to know more about it before considering shoving off to Monaco.
Click past the jump to read our full review to get a better feel for this car.
For what seems like forever, Porsche has turned out beautiful sports cars one after another and many times these beauties packed quite a punch too. One of these brawn-meets-beauty machines was the limited production 1989 Porsche 911 Speedster.
This model marked the first time that the “Speedster” moniker was slapped on a Porsche in 30 years, as the last one was the 1959 Porsche 356 Speedster. This model was coming at a rather awkward time though, as the U.S. was in a recession and Porsche was really starting to struggle. The famed automaker was banking on this limited model to help re-launch the “Porsche “ name in the minds of enthusiasts.
With its stylish lines and extremely high-powered six-cylinder engine, this model indeed helped thrust Porsche back to what it once was. The question is how does this aging high-performance machine stand up in today’s market?
Well, we will find out soon enough, as one of these rare 911 Speedsters is about to hit the auction block on via RM Auctions on June 9th through 10th in Hampton, NJ.
Click past the jump to read our full review on this classic Porsche
Every year, you can always count on MINI to be a presence at the Life Ball charity gala. As a matter of fact, the German automaker is more than just a presence there; they bring with them a specially designed MINI vehicle that will be auctioned off at the event with the proceeds going to projects that battle HIV and AIDS.
This year, the mantle has been passed to Franca Sozzani, the chief editor of Italian Vogue and UN Goodwill Ambassador for Fashion 4 Development. Sozzani was tasked to design a MINI Roadster and she went about with the design and development of the one-off Roadster, saying that the inspiration comes from a "beautiful woman who put a scarf on her head when she drives a Roadster."
UPDATE 05/21/2012: Franca Sozzani has unveiled its specially designed Mini Roadster at the 20th Life Ball in Vienna. The car comes painted in Deepest Purple matte paintwork combined with a gold hallmark MINI rally stripes, gold wheels and wing mirrors, and a stylishly intricate floral design on the car’s roof. The car was sold for an impressive 54,000 euro ($68,800 at the current exchange rates). Check out the picture gallery for a pretty impressive set of images from the car’s official launch.
